FAQ
What is Aruvi?
A payment protocol and app for USDC on Arc, Circle's L1 for stablecoin finance. Send, request, batch-pay, subscribe, and refund - settled in under a second.
Is it free to use?
On testnet, yes - Aruvi charges no protocol fees. You pay only Arc network gas, typically around $0.01 per payment, in USDC.
When Aruvi launches on Arc mainnet, a small percentage fee will apply to checkout and payment-link payments (the merchant tools). Person-to-person payments - send, request, multi-send, payroll - stay free forever. Final pricing will be published on the Mainnet Roadmap before launch.
Why don't I need ETH for gas?
USDC is Arc's native token. The balance you send from is the balance that pays for gas. One asset, everything covered.
How fast is a payment, really?
Arc produces blocks about every half second with deterministic finality - when the app shows "settled," the payment is final and can never be reversed by the network.
Where do I get USDC to try it?
Circle's faucet mints free testnet USDC straight to your Arc address. You can also bridge USDC from Ethereum, Base, and other testnets via the Deposit page.
Is this real money?
Not yet - Aruvi runs on Arc Testnet. Testnet USDC has no monetary value. A mainnet deployment is planned once Arc mainnet and a security audit are complete.
What happened to the privacy features?
Aruvi's original version (on Zama's fhEVM) encrypted payment amounts. Arc's equivalent - the Arc Privacy Sector - is on Circle's roadmap but not live, so amounts on Arc are currently public. Aruvi is architected to adopt APS the moment it ships. Full story: Privacy Roadmap.
Can I get my money back if I pay the wrong person?
Only the recipient can refund a payment (full amount, once, back to you). If you sent to a stranger's address, there's no way to force a return - always double-check addresses.
What's an "approval" and why did my first payment ask for one?
The Aruvi gateway moves USDC on your behalf using the standard ERC-20 allowance mechanism. The first payment grants that allowance (one extra signature); afterwards every payment is a single signature. You can revoke the allowance any time.
Do subscriptions charge automatically?
A due charge must be executed by either the merchant (pull) or you (push) - the contract enforces the schedule and amount but doesn't run by itself. If your balance is empty on charge day, the charge simply fails until funds are available; nothing accrues as debt.
Can businesses integrate Aruvi without a backend?
Yes - payment links and the drop-in button work with zero backend. For order fulfilment you should verify payments server-side, which is a single RPC call: Integration guide.
Is Aruvi open source?
Yes - BSD-3-Clause, on GitHub.